PULSE FAMILY. 123 



* Flowers yellow ; leaves simple, perfoliate. 



B. perfoliata. R. Br. Low and spreading, smooth and glaucous ; 

 leaves round-ovate ; flowers single, small, axillary ; pod small and glob- 

 ular. Carolina and Georgia. 



* * Flowers yellow ; leaves compound, of 3 leaflets. 



B. tinctdria, K. Br. WILD INDIGO. Pale or glaucous, smooth, bushy, 

 2 high ; petiole very short ; leaflets small, wedge-obovate ; stipules minute, 

 deciduous ; racemes few-flowered, terminating the branches ; pods small, 

 globular. Common. 



B. vill6sa, Ell. Minutely downy, stout stems, 2 high ; leaflets spatu- 

 late-oblong or wedge-obovate, becoming smooth above; petiole very 

 short ; stipules more or less persistent ; many-flowered racemes of large 

 flowers on slender pedicels ; pod minutely downy, oblong, taper-pointed. 

 Va. to N. C. and Ark. 



B. lanceolata, Ell. Downy when young ; leaflets thickish, blunt, 

 lanceolate to obovate, very short ; petiole spreading ; stipules small, 

 deciduous ; flowers rather large, solitary in the axils and in short terminal 

 racemes ; pod globular, slender-pointed. Common S. and S. W. 



* * * Flowers white, or cream-color ; leaves all of 3 wedge-obovate to ob- 



lanceolate leaflets ; flowers in long terminal racemes. 



B. leucophcba. Nutt. Low and spreading, 1 high, soft-hairy ; bracts 

 and stipules persistent, large and leaf-like ; racemes reclined, one-sided ; 

 flowers on slender pedicels, cream-colored, large (!' long) ; pods hoary, 

 ovate. Open woods, W and S. 



B. leucantha, Torr. & Gray. Smooth and glaucous, stout, 3-5 high ; 

 branches spreading ; petioles rather short ; lanceolate stipules and bracts 

 deciduous ; racemes erect, long ; flowers large (!' long); pods oval-oblong, 

 2' long, raised on a stalk fully twice the length of the calyx. Alluvial 

 soil, from Ont. W. and S. 



B. lba, R. Br. Smooth, 2-3 high ; branches slender, widely spread- 

 ing ; petioles slender ; stipules and bracts minute, deciduous ; racemes 

 loose, erect, or spreading, long-peduncled ; flowers small Q'-j' long) ; 

 pods cylindrical. S. Ind. and Mo. to La. and E. 



* * * * Flowers indigo-blue ; leaves of 3 leaflets, as in the foregoing. 



B. australis, R. Br. Smooth and stout, pale, erect, 2-5 high ; lance- 

 olate and rather persistent stipules as long as the short petiole ; racemes 

 erect ; flowers nearly 1' long, on short pedicels ; pods oval-oblong, 2'-3' 

 long, on a stalk as long as the calyx. Pa. to Ga. and W. to Mo.; also cult. 



3. THERMOPSIS. (Greek : resembling the Lupine. ) 11 



* Stipules prominently shorter than the long petioles ; pod sessile. 



T. Caroliniana, Curtis. Stem smooth, 3-6 high, simple; leaflets 

 obovate-oblong, silky beneath ; stipules ovate or oblong, clasping ; racemes 

 6'-12' long, villous, erect, many-flowered ; pods oblong-linear, erect. 

 Mts. of N. C. ; and cult. 



* * Stipules nearly equaling or longer than the short petioles ; pod stalked. 

 T. mdllis, Curtis. Downy, l-2 high ; branches spreading ; leaflets 



3 obovate-oblong ; stipules oblong-ovate, leaflike, some as long as the 

 petioles ; long, narrow-linear, spreading pods ; flowers spring. Open 

 woods from S. Va., S. 



4. CLADRASTIS, YELLOWWOOD. (Greek: branches brittle.) 



C. tinctdria, Raf. Wood light yellow ; bark close, like that of Beech ; 

 leaves of 7-11 parallel- veined oval or ovate leaflets (3'-4' long and smooth, 



